


Our Hearts Joy, Like A Bright Star Shineth

by mihrsuri



Category: The Tudors (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Historical, Bisexuality, Multi, OT3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-03 16:17:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15822495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mihrsuri/pseuds/mihrsuri
Summary: An accounting of the gifts given to Thomas Cromwell, later Duke of Essex by King Henry the Eighth & Queen Anne Boleyn or glimpses into a love story. (Set in my Rewrite The Stars OT3 AU Verse)





	Our Hearts Joy, Like A Bright Star Shineth

_To Master Cromwell, a book from the King’s printer (December 1532)_

The first gift he gives Thomas, the first real gift that is not simply the reward given to all those in the kings service is a book and Henry gives it to him himself, in a quiet moment - his secretaries genuine thanks and appreciation is gift enough but the fact that Thomas seeks him out to talk about the books contents is truly marvellous. 

(It is a book about the travels of a man across the world and back, which Henry thinks Tom will appreciate because has he not seen so much of the world in his life). 

Later, Thomas will smile at Henry and say that when he was a boy he had always wanted to read such books as these but he had always been told that such things were not meant for such as him and once again, Henry wishes he could get his hands on Thomas' father. 

_To Master Cromwell, from the her Grace The Lady Anne - a chess set of ebony and ivory (December 1532)._

Anne gifts him a chess set and for a moment he wants to say, it is to good for me, surely it is too good for me (he had said it to Henry but Henry had waved him off firmly, "that is nonsense, Thomas, it is a token of deserved esteem for you") but he does not and merely gasps his thanks in wonder. 

"I hope you will continue to play with me" Anne says and he agrees he shall "though I shall I fear, continue to be soundly trounced my Lady Pembroke" and she laughs and says that surely he is downplaying his own gifts and they continue into their easy conversation. 

_For Master Cromwell, a quantity of trees in pots and materials for construction of a small orangery (1533)_

"I know you have missed such trees" is all Henry says when he reveals his gift and Thomas, Thomas cannot help but fall more and more in love with his king (he understands, oh he understands how Henry is the sun - his warmth is delicious) who has done this thing for him after he had made a remark about missing the scent of orange and lemon trees growing - a reminder of the first true home he had found in Florence. 

_Gifted to Master Cromwell, upon this new year, a bow and set of arrows as well as the granting of the title of Earl of Essex and lands therein. (January 1534)_

He is given the Earldom by Anne and Henry both, to mark the birth of their first child (the bow and set of arrows are a private gift, however) and he can feel all the eyes of the court upon him. But it is something he is used to by now, to be so favoured and singled out. Still he must own that he wishes he could see the Duke of Norfolk's face in this moment and he cannot find it in himself to be sorry for such a thought. 

_From Queen Anne's privy purse - commission for a locket with two miniature portraits inside and a fine chain_

His Queen gives him a formal gift but it is Anne who hands him the locket with the portraits of his two little girls, whose stories Anne had asked him about and somehow, in her moment of greatest pain had found the strength to comfort him and he is reminded, as ever, how much he loves this most worthy lady. She has bought little Eleanor and tinier Grace back into his mind, not as they often are now in his mind but as they had been in life - memories that had been too painful for him but now, though they will always sting, he can smile as well - he remembers little Eleanors brightness and Grace's sweetness, the way they both played. He can talk of them, now.

_To Thomas Cromwell, the granting of the Dukedom of Essex, lands and houses as well as a hundred thousand pounds a year granted for the maintaining of his dignity and that of his heir. (1536)_

Henry places the ducal coronet and robe upon his Thomas himself and finds it hard to resist the urge to kiss his loves neck, to make it clear to all that Thomas is his - his and Anne's. He does later, when they are all in bed and Thomas smiles, soft and beautiful and Henry wants to be able to paint it - but he could not bear for anyone else to see such a smile to do so. 

The rings Henry has commissioned for them - that he cannot stop looking at. Cannot stop tracing, especially the inscription inside. Especially what Henry and Anne have said to him, when they gave him his ring. Thomas will treasure that always. But the greatest gift? Thomas will always say the greatest gift he has ever been given is their love and their children. That is beyond price. From his own Gregory (who he has been able to see prosper and will leave a Dukedom to), to Elizabeth, to little Pippa and all the children in between - they are truly blessings from the lord above

**Author's Note:**

> The book in question is The Travels of Marco Polo which did not appear to have been translated into English until Elizabethan times but I assume that Henry gave Thomas a version of it in Italian or Latin. (I may also be playing fast and loose with whether such a book would have been available but I assume it would at least have been accessible because Travel Stories Being A Thing). There is a small mention of Henry's gardens having oranges growing in them so I took that (and the fact that Tudors did have greenhouses/hothouses - partially because more glass production) and ran with it. I have also changed the date of the granting of an Earldom to Cromwell for Narrative Purposes. Title from In Dulci Jubilo (a Tudor era Christmas Carol). The rings in question are not clear in my head sadly.


End file.
